Experiences from voluntary work in Ghana – Resume

What are my ‘Lessons learnt’ regarding my contribution to the Shea project in Ghana?

I consider it great that SAP engages in projects in developing countries, e.g. in the Shea project in Ghana. I really appreciate that also employees, which usually work in different areas, have the chance to participate in these projects for a limited period. This is a unique possibility to apply your skills in a completely different and sometimes difficult environment. It is a challenge to broaden your horizon and reach (and get over!) your limits. I would encourage everybody who has the chance to participate in projects like this one.

It was a great experience for me to live and work for several weeks in a developing country. You learn that it does not help to get upset if things do not work out as expected, or to get angry if everything takes longer than planned. There are too many factors, which you can neither influence nor control (like power outage). I also saw that many challenges I faced in Ghana (planning, communication of changes, deliver what had been committed, …) were very similar to the ones I face in my daily work @SAP.

I learned a lot about MS Office during the preparation of the training and during the training itself. This will help me creating my own PowerPoints or Excel sheets in future.

From the feedback I got from the participants, I got the impression that they also learnt a lot about MS Office. Some immediately applied their new knowledge to their current office documents they were working on, and were happy to see the improvements.

Nevertheless, after having lived and worked in Ghana for some weeks, I appreciated the comfortable, predictable and easy life in Germany (or any other Western country).